Academic

PhD Research (awarded November 2008)

Negotiating Disability in Everyday Life: The Experience of Psycho-Emotional
Disablism

Abstract

It has been recognised that disability studies has been excellent at theorising
structural disablism which affects what people with impairments can do. However,
disabling factors which affect people with impairments at the psycho-emotional
level, have been relegated to the domain of personal trouble. Building on the
ideas presented in Female Forms by Carol Thomas, this thesis has two strands:
an empirical description of the complexity of psycho-emotional disablism and
its effects on identity, coupled with an application of the work of Giorgio
Agamben (Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life) to theorise this experience
of psycho-emotional disablism.

At the centre of this qualitative study were ten disabled people who took part
in a two-part narrative interview method and talked about their 'experiences
of disability'. The data was analysed in detail and revealed the complex interactions
between structural disablism, psycho-emotional disablism, impairment effects
as well as 'disability identity'.

I show how psycho-emotional disablism can be divided into two distinct forms:
direct psycho-emotional disablism which can happen within interpersonal interactions
between disabled people and others and indirect psycho-emotional disablism which
can occur as a consequence of the experience of structural disablism. I also
consider how the experience of psycho-emotional disablism affects the different
ways that people with impairments identify or not as disabled, and how this
has a temporal and spatial aspect as well as being impacted by impairment effects.

Agamben's work on homo sacer is used to explain the existential insecurity
associated with the experience of psycho-emotional disablism. The concept of
a 'zone of indistinction' is extended to introduce psychic and economic zones
as well as the more common spatial zone of indistinction. I demonstrate how
these zones can be found in examples of (in)direct psycho-emotional disablism
and suggest that the impaired body is an example of bare life.

Supervised by Professor Carol Thomas (IHR) and Bob Sapey (ASS)

Examined by Professor Dan Goodley and Professor Sue Wise, awarded with no
changes in November 2008

Research interests

Within my academic work I adopt an interdisciplinary approach to both writing
and theorising drawing on many fields such as post-colonial theory, feminist
theory, sociology of the emotions, sociology of the body as well as disability
studies. My theoretical approach is post-structuralist and is heavily influenced
by the later work of Foucault and that of his student, Agamben.

I am associated with the Centre for Disability Research (CeDR)
at Lancaster University and can be contacted at donna.reeve@gmail.com.

Reeve, D. (2006) 'Towards a psychology of disability: the emotional effects
of living in a disabling society', in D. Goodley and R. Lawthom (eds) Disability
and Psychology: Critical Introductions and Reflections, London: Palgrave,
pp. 94-107.

Reeve, D. (2004) 'Psycho-emotional dimensions of disability and the social
model', in C. Barnes and G. Mercer (eds) Implementing the Social Model of
Disability: Theory and Research, Leeds: The Disability Press, pp. 83-100.
Available from the Leeds Disability Archive here.

Reeve, D. (2012) 'Part of the problem or part of the solution? A discussion
of the reality of ‘Inclusive Access for Disabled Customers’', paper presented
at Disability - Spaces and Places of Exclusion Symposium, Lancaster University,
16-17 April.

Reeve, D. (2009) '‘Sick or disabled?’: A discussion of the interaction between
chronic illness and psycho-emotional disablism', paper presented at Disability
and Chronic Illness Workshop, University of the West of England, 30 January.

Reeve, D. (2007) 'Homo sacer and zones of exception: Metaphors for the contemporary
experience of disablism?' paper presented at Disability, Discourse and Community
Psychology: The 1st Seminar, Research Institute of Health and Social Change
(RIHSC), Manchester Metropolitan University, 6 July. (Slightly longer version
of NNDR paper).

Reeve, D. (2006) '‘Am I a real disabled person or someone with a dodgy arm?’:
a discussion of psycho-emotional disablism and its contribution to identity
constructions', paper presented at Disability Studies: Research and Learning,
Lancaster University, 18-20 September.

Unpublished work

Reeve, D. (2000) Negotiation of disability and impairment within counselling
relationships: a critical evaluation from the perspective of clients with spinal
cord injuries, MA Thesis, Leeds: University of Leeds.